The new changes will have a direct impact on our readers and specifically those who are not subscribers.

As of June 19, non-subscribers will only have the privilege of accessing six online stories, photos or videos each month. Once those six clicks have been made, continued access to the Times-Herald website will cost you.

For the first month, the “digital duo” subscription — access to the website and E-edition of our daily newspaper — will cost people only 99 cents for unlimited online access. That’s a steal of a deal.

In the months that follow, the digital subscription will cost prospective subscribers $12 each month. Like Netflix, it’s a fee that will automatically appear on your monthly credit card statement until you cancel your subscription.

So, why are we going metered?

Along with our sister paper, the Prince Albert Daily Herald, we are the only remaining daily newspapers in the Transcontinental Media chain who have yet to adopt a metered structure for access to our online content.

It’s long overdue and now is the time to join the ranks of other top newspaper brands in North America.

All Postmedia papers, including the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix, are metered, as are Sun Media papers, the Globe and Mail and the New York Times.

We understand that Moose Javians have been accustomed to reading our in-depth coverage on a variety of issues that are important to the people in our city. We expect that will continue after the metered access goes into effect, but we want to remind readers that it is costly to produce top-notch quality journalism.

In order to maintain that quality, metered access is a step in the right direction — a step more than 450 media companies across the continent have already taken.

Although metered, we will continue to be the Friendly City’s most pre-eminent news website.

Yes, it is a change from the status quo, and something we understand some members of this community will be reluctant to accept, but it is the direction the media industry has been thrust into.

Not many things in life are free. Become a digital subscriber so you can stay up to speed on the latest news, sports and opinion pieces we publish daily.